Data reveals only one in 20 criminals convicted by Sussex Police for weapons offences is jailed for at least a year

Police news

Ralph Blackburn, data reporter

Published:08:21Wednesday 23 May 2018

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Just one in every 20 criminals convicted by Sussex Police for possessing knives, guns or other weapons are sentenced to at least a year in prison.

Ministry of Justice statistics show that 15 out of the 256 people convicted for weapons possession offences last year were handed prison time of 12 months or more.

In fact more offenders received a community order, 74 in total.

Out of the 404 suspects Sussex Police brought to court, 63% were found guilty.

Weapons possession offences include having a gun, knife or bottle of acid in public, and more serious crimes include threatening someone with blades or firearms or taking them to schools.

Currently the minimum sentence is a community order and the maximum is four years’ imprisonment, depending on the severity of the offence.

However in June new guidelines will come into place making the minimum sentence six months in custody.

In 2017 just two of those convicted received a sentence of four years or more. If the defendant was sentenced for two separate offences, the data combines their custodial time.

Of the total, 98 weapons trials were dealt with at crown court, indicating they are the most serious offences. The rest were seen at magistrates’ court where the maximum sentence is six months’ imprisonment.

Of those cases held at crown court, 47% were convicted.

Patrick Green, chief executive of the Ben Kinsella Trust, a charity which aims to raise awareness about knife crime, said it was “important that we send a message that we are not going soft on offenders”.

Ben was stabbed to death in an unprovoked attack in 2008 when he was just 16-years-old. His family set up the trust in his honour.

Mr Green continued: “The average custodial sentence for carrying a knife in Scotland is almost twice that of England and Wales. Knife crime is falling in Scotland and rising in England and Wales.